ENGINEERING MECHANICS LABORATORY MANUAL

EXPERIMENT NO. 1
TITLE: POLYGON OF FORCES
AIM: TO VERIFY THE LAW OF POLYGON OF FORCES FOR A NUMBER
OF COPLANAR FORCES IN EQUILIBRIUM.
THEORY: A given system of coplanar, concurrent forces will be in equilibrium
provided a close polygon can be drawn which shall have its sides respectively parallel
and proportional to the forces taken in order.

PROCEDURE:
(1) Fix a sheet on the board
(2) Loading the pans and allow the system to come to rest and note the loads
including the weights of pans
(3) Mark the directions of strings on the paper.
(4) Draw force polygon and if the last line meets the starting point, the law is verified
(5) Repeat the procedure by varying the loads
OBSERVATION TABLE:
Serial No. WEIGHTS IN
AB BC CD DE EA

Questions:
1. Define force.
2. What is concurrent force system?
3. Does your vector polygon close? If not, what are the reasons?
4. Do you find any resultant from the vector polygon? Should there be any resultant actually?
5. If there be a resultant in a force system. What should be the effect?

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 ENGINEERING MECHANICS LABORATORY MANUAL

EXPERIMENT NO. 2
TITLE: VERIFICATION OF LAW OF PARALLEL FORCES
AIM: TO DETERMINE THE REACTIONS OF A SIMPLY SUPPORTED
BEAM LOADED WITH CONCENTRATED LOADS BY OBSERVATION AND
BY CALCULATIONS AND COMPARE THE RESULTS

THEORY: By law of parallel forces

𝑊1 + 𝑊2 = 𝑅1 + 𝑅2 … … … … (1)
By taking moment about A
𝑊1 × 𝑎 + 𝑊2 × 𝑏 = 𝑅2 × 𝑙 … … … … (2)

From equation (1) and (2), R1 and R2 can be calculated by knowing a, b, l, W1 and W2.
Law can be verified by experiment

PROCEDURE:
1. Calibrate the compression spring separately by removing the bar and putting
known load and note the deflection of the spring whereby spring stiffness can be
known by dividing load by deflection.
2. Measure span l
3. Put loads W1 and W2 at known distance a and b.
4. Calculate reaction R1 and R2 using equation (1) and (2).
5. Note spring deflection and convert them into weight units by multiplying by the
spring stiffness.
6. Repeat the procedure by varying a, b, W1 and W2
TABULATION: Span, l = , Spring stiffness, K1 = K2 =
Sl. W1 a W2 b Calculated Observed Value Inference
No wt
R1 R2 Int. Fin. Def. R1 Int. Fin. Def. R2
def. Def. def. Def.

Questions:
1. What are the laws of parallel forces?
2. Whether loads used by you are masses or weights? What is the difference between mass and
weight? Does mass change for a particular substance from place to place? What about weight?
3. Explain what is meant by clockwise and anticlockwise moment?
4. Forces 10 N and 50 N are to be balance at the ends of a lever 1 m long. Where should be the
position of the fulcrum?

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 ENGINEERING MECHANICS LABORATORY MANUAL

EXPERIMENT NO. 3
TITLE: SLIDER FRICTION ON INCLINED PLANE
AIM: TO DETERMINE THE CO-EFFICIENT OF SLIDER FRICTION
BETWEEN TWO GIVEN SURFACES
THEORY:

With reference to the figure Resolving the forces along the plane
 = co-efficient of friction and perpendicular to the plane
N = Normal Reaction P -  N – W sin  = 0 -----------(1)
F = Friction force N – W cos  = 0 -----------(2)
P = Wt on the pan.
 = inclination of the plane
From (1) and (2)
 = P/ W cos  - tan  --------------- (3)
PROCEDURE:
(1) Set the apparatus and note 
(2) Put load W1 on slider box and check minimum P at which the slider starts moving
(W= W1 + wt of the box.)
(3) Calculate 
(4) Repeat for one more set of W and 

TABULATION: Wt of the box = , Wt of the pan =

CONTACT SERIAL W P   MEAN
SURFACES NO.

Questions:
1. What do you mean by static friction, limiting friction, slider friction and rolling friction?
2. What do you mean by coefficient of friction, angle of friction, angle of repose and cone of
friction?
3. “It is easier to pull a body than to push it.” Explain.
4. For two bodies of the same material resting on the same surface, the body having more weight
will experience greater frictional force or the body having less weight will experience greater
frictional force?
5. Give some examples indicating the useful and harmful effects of friction.

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 ENGINEERING MECHANICS LABORATORY MANUAL

EXPERIMENT NO. 4
TITLE: PERFORMANCE OF A LABORATORY SQUARE THREADED
SCREW JACK
AIM: ANALYSE THE PERFORMANCE OF A LABORATORY SQUARE
THREADED SCREW JACK:
A. TO DETERMINE THE VELOCITY RATIO, MECHANICAL
ADVANTAGE AND EFFICIENCY OF A SQUARE THREADED SCREW
JACK
B. TO CONSTRUCT THE CURVES SHOWING RELATIONS OF P – W,
MA – W, η- W
THEORY:
The simple screw jack consists of a screw, which is free to rotate in a nut and effort
wheel is fixed to this screw at the top. Nut is fixed with the body. A string is wrapped
around the head of screw rod and one end of the string is attached to the effort pan.

String
Turn table

Screw

The velocity ratio (VR) of any lifting machine is given as-

𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑡 (𝑦)
𝑉𝑅 = … … … … (1)
𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 (𝑥)
In case of simple screw jack shown in the figure,
𝜋𝐷
𝑉𝑅 = … … … … (2)
𝑃
Where,
D = Diameter of the turntable
P = pitch of the screw
Mechanical advantage (MA) is given by

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 ENGINEERING MECHANICS LABORATORY MANUAL

𝐿𝑜𝑎𝑑 (𝑊)
𝑀𝐴 = … … … … (3)
𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑡 (𝑃)
PROCEDURE:
1. Determine the pitch of the screw thread.
2. Measure the circumference of the turn table.
3. Put some known weight on the turn table and find out the corresponding effort
required to lift the load by adding the weight on the effort pan.
4. Repeat the experiment for at least five loads.
5. Plot the value in graph papers to construct the following Curves
a. P Vs.W
b. MA Vs.W
c. η- W
OBSERVATIONS:
1. Diameter of load table (turn table): D =
2. Pitch of the screw: P =
3. Circumference of load table: πD =
4. Velocity Ratio: VR =

Difference in Mechanical
Load, W Actual effort, Ideal Effort, Efficiency
Sl no. efforts (N), Advantage,
(N) Pa (N) Pi (N) 𝑷𝒇 = 𝑷𝒂 − 𝑷𝒊
(%), η
MA

From the above observations, the law of machine is ________________

Questions:
1. What is meant by the pitch of a screw? How did you measure the pitch of the screw?
2. List some applications of screw jack. What are the advantages of irreversible machine?
3. What is the nature of the graph of actual effort vs Load?
4. What is the nature of the graph of efficiency vs Load?

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 ENGINEERING MECHANICS LABORATORY MANUAL

EXPERIMENT NO. 5
TITLE: VERIFICATION OF THE LAW OF MOMENTS
AIM: TO VERIFY THE PRINCIPLE OF MOMENTS USING THE BELL
CRANK LEVER APPARATUS.
THEORY:
Principle of Moments states that ‘the algebraic sum of the moments of a system of
coplanar forces about any point in the plane is equal to the moment of the resultant force
of the system about the same point’. This principle would be verified for a bell crank
lever arrangement. A lever whose two arms form a right angle, or nearly a right angle
and having its fulcrum at the apex of the angle is referred to as a bell crank lever. These
levers were originally used to operate the bell from a long distance especially where
change in direction of bell wires was involved and hence the name. Now, bell crank
levers are used in machines to convert the direction of reciprocation movement.

PROCEDURE:
1. Arrange two hangers at arbitrary locations on the horizontal arm and note the
locations 𝑥1, and 𝑥2, of these hangers from the hinge.
2. Adjust the tension in the spring connected to the vertical arm such that the load
arm becomes horizontal.
3. Note the tensile force in the spring as the initial tension 𝑇𝑖.
4. Hang the weights 𝑊1 and 𝑊2 from the hangers. This will cause the arms to tilt
and the pointers to move away from each other. Now again adjust the tension in
the spring such that that the arm which has loads comes in horizontal position.
5. Note the tensile force in the spring as the final tension 𝑇𝑓.

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6. The tensile force 𝑇 due to the application of loads on horizontal arm is equals to
𝑇 𝑓 − 𝑇 𝑖.
7. Therefore, to verify the principle of moments we need to take moments 𝑀 of all
the external forces (which include the weights of the hangers hanging from the
horizontal arm) and the tension in the spring connected to the vertical arm about
the hinge.
8. If the total sum is zero, verifies the law of moments since the moment of the
resultant is also zero about the hinge.
9. Repeat the above steps by changing the weights and their location on the
horizontal arm for two more set of observations.
OBSERVATIONS:
Sample calculation:
The total moment about the hinge is given by,
∑ 𝑀 = 𝑇 × 𝑦 − 𝑊1 × 𝑥1 − 𝑊2 × 𝑥2
Where,
T is the tension in the spring balance
y is the distance of the spring balance from the hinge along the vertical arm
W1 and W2 are the loads on the horizontal arms
x1 and x2 are the distances of W1 and W2 respectively from the hinge along
the horizontal arm

Sl
𝑇𝑖 (𝑁) 𝑊1 (𝑁) 𝑊2 (𝑁) 𝑥1 (𝑚) 𝑥2 (𝑚) 𝑇𝑓 (𝑁) 𝑇 (𝑁) ∑ 𝑀 (𝑁. 𝑚)
no.

RESULT/ INFERENCE:
Questions:
1. “The total moment in all cases was equal to zero.” Is this statement true or false? If false,
what are the possible reasons according to you?
2. List some applications of bell crank lever.
3. What is Varignon’s theorem?
4. What does the moment of the force measure?

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